Mele Murals Screening and Discussion

Mele Murals is a documentary on the transformative power of modern graffiti art and ancient Hawaiian culture for a new generation of Native Hawaiians. At the center of the story are two renowned street artists - Estria Miyashiro (aka Estria) and John Hina (aka Prime) - a group of Native Hawaiian youth, and the rural community of Waimea. Through the stories of these two graffiti artists and their joint quest to uphold Hawaiian culture through mural-making, Mele Murals shows how public art rooted in underground graffiti unexpectedly but powerfully fuses with Native Hawaiian traditions and contemporary life to impact the students, the town of Waimea, and most of all the artists.AASA will be screening Mele Murals and hosting a post-screening discussion with the documentarys director, Tadashi Nakamura, who is currently touring the East Coast. This is our first foray in recent years into educating our membership and others about issues facing Pacific Islanders, an important yet often overlooked group in AAPI identity. Lauren Mei-Singh, a postdoctoral researcher under AMS, will also be speaking about broader themes like resistance to past and present colonization and occupation, cultural preservation, and revitalization in Hawaii.